Kalamazoo Humane Society again seeking new home after deal for shared facility falls through

The Kalamazoo Humane Society has decided to opt-out of a $2 million purchase agreement to acquire the North American Color Building, 5960 Sprinkle Rd., after an appraisal valued the building as a lesser amount.Alex Mitchell | Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO, MI — Despite signing off on a purchase agreement for a facility on Sprinkle Road earlier this year, the Kalamazoo Humane Society is again looking for a new home after deciding the building wouldn't meet its needs.

Aaron Winters, director of the Kalamazoo Humane Society, said in April that the agency had signed a $2 million purchase agreement with North American Color, a Portage-based printing company, to obtain its facility located at 5960 S. Sprinkle Road. However, Winters said recently that the humane society opted not to finalize the purchase during its 120-day due diligence period for a number of reasons.

Despite having been close to an agreement that would have allowed North American Color to continue to rent part of the building after the sale, Winters said the humane society ultimately walked away from the deal because of the asking price.

"Basically, the (humane society) board was proactive in getting appraisal, and based on that appraisal, we adjusted purchase price offer and weren't able to come to agreement on the price," Winters said.

"We really felt there were a couple things we weren't able to negotiate," he added.

The building would have also housed the Kalamazoo County Animal Shelter, which like the humane society, has also outgrown its current facility.

The two sides have planned for the humane society to purchase a suitable building, while Kalamazoo County would pay to lease about half the space. In August of last year, Kalamazoo County commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding stating they would commit $650,000 up front toward the purchase of a facility and would pay an additional $200,000 annually throughout a 20-year lease obligation.

This is the second building the humane society has gotten close to purchasing since they starting looking for a suitable shared facility last year. The agency also signed a $1.3 million purchase agreement last fall for a commercial property located at 480 Commercial Ave. in Portage, but Winters said it was determined during the due diligence period that the building had repair issues and wouldn't be suitable for their needs.

Winters said he maintains hope an existing facility that could meet the needs of both the humane society and animal shelter can still be located within the area, but admitted those odds are slim at this point.

"Buildings with 25,000 to 30,000 square feet on at least 10 acres not easy to come by in our area," Winters said.

At this point, the director said the focus will be shifted to purchasing a lot to construct a new facility. While that route is likely to be more costly, Winters said, it will also allow both sides to create a building that they envisioned.

"We felt and others felt repurposing an existing building would be something we would like to do, but it's not working out for us at this point," he said. "Building a brand new facility would probably allow us to create what we wanted."

Winters has previously said renovating an existing building would cost roughly $4 million to $6 million, while estimates for starting from scratch sit around $10 million. The humane society will work to secure a loan to purchase a property, one located, and then launch a silent capital campaign that will go public once the agency has reached 50 to 75 percent of its goal.

But, the humane society is working against the clock since Kalamazoo County's financial commitment expires in August of 2015 if a shared facility has not been located by that time.

Winters said he is cognizant of the deadline and hopes the county would be flexible if the humane society was close to making a purchase when the deadline approaches.

"Potentially, if we were right on the edge of a wonderful project that was happening at that point, I'd like to think they would extend (the agreement), but our hope is not to push it to that point," he said.

"It's always been our idea that we can do more together than separately."

Alex Mitchell covers county government and taxes for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Email him at amitche5@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.